Green by design is a new approach to doing business. It has you looking beyond your traditional or smokestack business models. It has you looking to provide environmentally friendly products and services. It has you looking to maximise the "use value" of all your intangible assets.

Green by design uses information to emphasise the "use value" you provide your customers rather than emphasis your product or service range. Green by design uses digital information systems to keep your customers fully informed about your carbon-reduced business choices. Green by design uses energy efficient solutions and carbon miserly technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in every phase of your business. Green by design uses automation to reduce rework, waste, duplication, and paper records. Green by design uses machine to machine connections to limit the transportation needs of your business. Green by design compresses the supply chain for every product and every service bought or sold by your business.

Green by design starts with "a carbon neutral" mindset. This mindset is geared to reducing the carbon footprint of your business and all your suppliers to an absolute minimum over the next decade. In some cases the stretch goal is to "leave no footprint" from your business.

The latest financial results from Google Inc contained a surprise for investors. The top line for revenue was strong but costs rose strongly too due to a 13% increase in staff. The costs associated with this huge recruitment drive adversely impacted the bottom line results.

This was no big surprise for me but it did provide some tangible evidence to support what I had suspected from the beginning of 2007 - Google is becoming a closed system. The hub of this closed system is the Googleplex in Mountain View.

The Googleplex is the problem. It is becoming a sheltered workshop. It has got ahead of itself. It is no longer able to move quickly, decisively, and creatively. It has slowed in its ability to deliver new "use value" for its ever growing band of Google users.

The Googleplex is an iron-clad cocoon from which the butterfly iGoogle has to somehow emerge. A smooth transition from Google to iGoogle is therefore nigh on impossible (see my earlier riffs on Google's struggle with its culture within the Googleplex - including from "a grub to a butterfly").

What can be done? In my view Google management must now network the Googleplex in some very smart ways if they are ever to realise the amazing range of social and economic benefits of iGoogle. Simply "sunkworking" within the Googleplex will not do it.

The way things are progressing Googlers can expect to see the Googleplex, in less than 2 years, become a smaller version of the Microsoft Campus at Redmond. Contrary to folklore these two entities are not free and open campuses - they are a series of "locked down" silos.

But it is not the physical dimensions of Google and Microsoft that is the biggest concern to me it is the mindsets within these silos at Mountain View and Redmond. Putting it bluntly my biggest concern is the emergence of "hubris".

Hubris is what got Apple and Microsoft into trouble in the 1990s. It is what got Xerox in trouble around two decades earlier. Hubris was the corporate weakness that Bill Gates exploited when he did his early software deals with IBM. Hubris is what Bill Gates saw as the chief cause of the decline and then the demise of Wang Laboratories.

Well is Google now Googleplexed? My best guess is yes......

Xerox went through many iterations of invention and innovation. But the brilliant people working in the Xerox Labs must have had nightmares for decades after they failed to convince their executive management of the worth of their work on micro-processor computers. They had made significant breakthroughs in the new field of personal computers but their management did not understand the need or the want for their breakthroughs.

The folks over at Xerox Labs had invented the mouse and the "user friendly" interfaces that eventually made the Apple Macintosh a world-wide hit. Steve Jobs and his motley crew knew what Xerox had and so they asked top management if they could take a look at it. Steve went to Xerox explicitly to "borrow" their inventions. Thus Xerox gave Apple and ultimately Microsoft the core ideas and schema they needed to build two new global empires. Apple did it with the personal computer Microsoft did it with computer software.

Recently I enjoyed a 12 month gig in an IT shop working on health care issues. The result was a new health care model that could be as revolutionary as the Apple Macintosh. You guessed it - there is no good story to tell here either. My client's executive management peers, just like their counterparts at Xerox more than 30 years ago, did not want to know about this breakthrough.

The universal catch cry is for more talent, innovation, creativity, spontaneity, serendipity, etc. to drive your organisation onto greatness. However the stark reality is all those factors are present in all medium to large organisations. The great pity is the amazing breakthroughs produced by those factors go largely unnoticed and unused.

What is needed is "re-generation" not re-configuration, not re-invigoration, not renewal..... Are you working on a "renewal project" at your work place?  I guarantee it will give you nightmares just as it did those good folk at Xerox Labs.

Re-generation happens in nature and wherever "bloody minded" people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates can identify 'hubris' and seize the opportunities it affords them to build a new empire.

Are you a carbon cop?

Do you go around your home and workplace turning off lights and appliances when they are not strictly needed? Do you walk, cycle, or take public transport to some places you formerly drove the car? Do you have a plan to incorporate more energy efficient devices at home and at work over the next five years? Do you know the cost and benefits of solar energy as a replacement for your carbon producing energy sources? Do you know of any government subsidies or incentives which may apply to solar installations for your home or workplace?

If not why not?

Things are about to get more and more difficult for the "old firm".

Technologies are changing the "use value" of products and services. The "free" component in the digitized supply of products and services is establishing a new baseline for value. Sign a 12 month contract for a mobile phone and you get the handset "free".

Previously this type of "free" was an illusion because you paid the full cost of the handset in the service charges. But now the service charges have dropped so dramatically that if you roll over your old contract you do effectively get the handset for "free". More importantly you also get to use it more than ever before because the limits on your "use of the phone" almost disappear. You can call home for "free". You can call a set of friends for "free". You can call overseas for less than you formerly paid to call home. You have a new asset in your phone because the "use value" has be expanded beyond your wildest expectations.

The old firm was based on "exclusive use" of a product or service. The new firm is to be based on "inclusive use" of a product of service. The old firm sought to "value add" to the products and service in your life and to charge you for that added value.

The new firm seeks to serve you and thus it finds your particular, or is it peculiar, wants and needs. Thus when the new firm serves you it provides "use value" you are willing to pay for time and time again.

Reducing costs in a "value adding" chain is easy if and only if you have a clear and present focus on process. You automate. You compress time lines. You reduce quality. You boost continuities. You increase "single points or failure". You increase risks of poor performance. You concentrate on the bottom line not on the revenue model.

Reducing cost in a "use value" business is easy if and only if you have a clear and present purpose. You automate. You compress time lines. You increase quality. You boost new continuities (eg carbon-reduced provision of goods and services). You go up the technology curve and embrace the latest in WiFi, iPod phones, digital information, etc. You eliminate all "single points of failure". You increase the performance of suppliers, staff, and customers. You focus on new revenue models.

Brands have always provided consumers with a certain sense of belonging. If you buy a brand you join an “exclusive group”. If you wear a fashion brand you are immediately part of an “in group”. Brands separate you from the mob.

However there is a new sense of belonging in C21st. It is the sense you get when you are part of a mob who are enjoying what they are doing. This sense of belonging comes from being part of an “inclusive group”. In this group the experience is relevant and the brand is irrelevant.

There are two chocolate shops I visit. One has a very exclusive brand with a fine array of expensive hand made products. It has a booming business with shops popping up like mushrooms after a storm. The other is a no brand with a fine array of much less expensive hand made products. It has a booming business too with even more shops but located in less exclusive areas.

In the first shop I buy the brand and pay a premium. I have usually just “popped in” because I was walking past. The shop is crowded and it is usually a rather unpleasant shopping experience but the product is good quality. In the second shop I buy the experience of being there. I tend to linger and I find I spend much more money each time I go there. The experience is always uplifting and enjoyable so I willingly drive for twenty minutes just to get to this shop.

Which type of consumer are you? Which type of business are you in?

Social Networks are the precursor to an emerging C21st business model I have posted many riffs about recently. My term for this new phenomenon is “networked clusters”.

These “networked clusters” are about to lead us into new worlds of business that few could have contemplated just a decade ago. Exactly what the new “networked clusters” will evolve into over the next 100 years is hard to say. But for the moment they will lead us into an era of mega organisations. These mega organisations will be global and will in turn form “networked economies” that rival nations and states for total revenue raising capacity.

The interesting thing for business right now however is that just as they are becoming more open and cooperative: the bloggers and their social networks are becoming more and more a closed loop. Yeah just as business is becoming more cooperative, sharing, and open with its intellectual property the bloggers are becoming more precious about their content. Why?

My best guess is the radicals, thought leaders, respected thinkers, talent, etc who sparked this movement are about to be swamped by the long tail of late comers to their party. These late comers are the entertainers, blog celebrities, funsters, etc who appeal to that truly huge “show and tell” crowd that now socialises on or through the net. These new “stars” of the web are different because thus far they have not displayed the interest, intellectual curiosity, broad experience, pioneering spirit, etc needed to sustain a large open system.

If my hunch is right there is a gap developing between business and social networks on the web. Business websites are therefore about to loose traffic unless and until they can find a universal theme.

Fortunately there is a theme out there that has the potential to fuse business and social blogs – the green theme. If a business is “going green in a simple and practical way” and it is willing to riff about it then the traffic to their site is about to grow exponentially.

Consumers are now directly linked to your “revenue models” by global search facilities.

That simple fact changes the way you operate your business – it is now “business direct”. Consumers all around the globe want to do business with you via the internet. They order you ship. They order you serve. They demand you source. They ask you “free trial”. They go “green” you go “carbon reduced”.

Self-service consumers now shop well beyond local and national boundaries. These consumers are forming “networked economies” that will soon rival national economies in their purchasing power – eg The Google Economy.

Are you engaged in business direct? Is your business networked? Are your revenue models tuned to the “use value” demanded by green consumers? Are you erasing the “carbon footprint” attached to your revenue models?  Are you ready to green your revenue models?  

Governments mandate “a set of green-house gas targets” and away you go.

It is not suppose to be this way but in essence once the British Government mandated a change to the nation's carbon footprint by 2020 everything started to change. The planning for the 2012 London Olympic Games began to think “clean and green” and about just how to run a carbon neutral sporting festival. Churches started to implore their congregations to work with them to run their gatherings as carbon neutral events. But most surprising perhaps to all was the rush by business to grasp the green advantage.

Business became much more aggressive about waste, rework, and carbon footprints. Business analysed all its revenue models. It was soon apparent that in many cases “the value adding processes” in the supply chain were counterproductive. Value adding by one link along the supply chain was often a carbon emission problem for businesses downstream. Those downstream began to look for practical ways to compress their supply chain. In the process they discovered innovative new ways to cut costs and to reduce their carbon footprint.

How green is your mindset? How green is your business? How much greener will you need to be in ten years time to remain competitive?

Being green is a state of mind. Your mindset is green if you are “disrupting with purpose” the way you do business and the way you live your life. Your new green purpose is to provide “use value” not to “value add”.

Take the case of potato farmers who put their spuds into a humidifier so as to add water to their crop before selling them, by weight, to crisp chip makers. The crisp manufacturers have to take the water out with carbon producing processes before they can provide you and me with their potato chips. The farmers “value add” with water then the manufacturers “value add” by taking the water away in a high-energy cooking process. All along this “value adding chain” the environment gets an unnecessary dose of carbon emissions.

If you had a green mindset you would offer the farmer more money for dry potatoes. Because those potatoes have a far greater “use value” for you.

Think “use value” and you will turn a profitable shade green.

Green business is now being mandated around the world. By 2020 most businesses will be green.

They will be green because of Government regulations, mandates, and carbon credit programs. They will be green because their customers demand it. They will be green because they will have discovered that being “environmentally friendly” reduces their costs.

Governments will force the pace with their targets for green-house gas emissions. Complying with these new requirements will be all but impossible unless and until businesses rethink their revenue models. The core idea in most business models today is value adding. By 2020 it will be use value.

Value adding is a moribund concept. It is synonomous with a long supply chain that is both price competitive and uncooperative. This has to change. The supply chain has to be compressed wherever and whenever possible. It has to be re-engineered to remove waste and rework. It has to be creative in its use of transport. It has to be aggressive in its use of internet-based technologies. It has to be practical in co opting customers to embrace a particular shade of green.

Have you ever talked to an artist about his or her business? If so you know they are essentially about “colour and movement”.

The good painting, photo, sculpture, advertisement, etc always has “colour and movement” – even if it is a still life painting, a portrait photo, a bronze statue, or a magazine advertisement.

You know what you like - what you like is “colour and movement”.

You know what you like is often hard to describe but you know that certain magic is there. You know you like to see shades of dark and light in a black and white photo, to see the light hit a bronze statue, to get drawn into a magazine advertisement by the rich colours of a scene, or to get excited by a painting of a racehorse stretching his head out to win a race.

So why is business so gray? Why is it so devoid of the “colour and movement” you crave? Can it be otherwise?

Well yes it can! In fact it is about to display all the colours of the rainbow. It is about to become more and more about “colour and movement” than ever before. Why? Because all these new internet-based technologies lend themselves to being colourful even when doing boring things like shopping or filling up your car at a petrol station. While filling my rental in Las Vegas I was entertained by the news at the pump. Why? Because every business is now in the entertainment business. Yesterday I peered through a local real estate agent's front window – they too sought to entertained me with a huge flat high-definition TV screen showing the properties for sale or rent.

Move over “gray” here come the “colour and movement” businesses.

If you go to any academic library you will find shelves upon shelves of books on 'leadership'. In most of those books there is something about change leadership. Why? Because leading change is difficult.

You can read the literature and make your own conclusions about this field. My contribution here is from direct experiences at the “coalface” of change in large and medium sized organisations.

Leadership is often thrust upon people. There is a crisis and certain people find themselves suddenly thrust into the limelight – most do their best, many are less than successful, and some are outstanding successes. The successes are more interesting than the rest by a country mile. Why are they so successful? First and foremost they are humble. They do not lead but rather facilitate. They facilitate group activities. They facilitate idea generation. They facilitate tolerance of every idea – even “stupid” concepts – because they know that innovation and change comes from the most unexpected sources. They facilitate ruthless execution. They facilitate “hope”.

You will have seen all those simple things being done in your workplace. When they are done in a coordinated and deliberate way then change is inevitable.

You have probably also seen the emergence of the “false” leaders. These are usually “self appointed” leaders who “fool” no one but themselves. They are egotist. They are difficult to deal with in any constructive way because they are usually “blockers” of change. They appeal to everyone who wants continuity not change. They gain strength and momentum with their “false” leadership aspirations every time a genuine initiative for change is delayed or otherwise unsuccessful.

Change leadership at the end of the day is a concept not a reality. When change occurs in an organisation it is because the great majority of people who work there step up and take on a leadership role in their area.

You have tried to change yourself and your business models many times but failed – welcome to the club.

Putting these two terms together is a nonsense. Change is about ambiguity, confusion, uncertainty, taking risks, and discontinuities. Management is about control, certainty, calculable risks, and continuities.

Ahead is a business environment full of change. Much of this change will be brought about by government mandates or regulations about carbon footprints and carbon credits. If your business is an inefficient user of carbon then you will have to change your habits, mindsets, ways of thinking and being in the world.

If you are planning to call in a top consulting firm to design and/or facilitate a “change management program” then I hope you have very “deep pockets”. Their solutions will cost you a small fortune. Their outcomes will leave you wondering why you ever "signed on" for their schema. The whole thing will end in tears.

Don't get me wrong on this.  The top consulting firms have some of the best brains in the world working for them.  Unfortunately those brains work within "a revenue model" that can not deliver you or your firm the results you will need nor meet the deadlines you will need to meet.

A much better way to go will be to hire a “no name small firm” that is committed to working at the coalface with your people for as long as it takes to find the innovative new ways needed to become carbon efficient.  This way you might end up designing and running a "carbon credit card" business that is at the "cutting edge" of your industry.

Are YOU liked or respected at work?

I urge you to take a moment to think about this simple question. First write down which one you would prefer. Second write down, honestly, the answers that your ten or twenty closest colleagues would give – include peers, sub-ordinates, and bosses. Third make an assessment on balance of how you stack up.

Remember there is no right answer here there is only the answer that your habits and behaviours evoke.

So you discover you are more respected than liked and you are not happy about that outcome.

Problem is if you are well respected and you work in a hierarchy then you probably do not want to change that perception of yourself or of your authority. In hierarchical regimes it is far far better to be respected than liked. This is why certain people, especially females, hit a glass ceiling. “Yeah everyone really likes her but she has yet to win their respect” is what you might hear in the board room while discussing future appointments to senior management roles.

In a hierarchy you need to become “a well respected leader”. Forgot all the “well meaning advice” you have read on leadership and management – it is not like that at the coalface. Within hierarchies the most respected leaders are not team players - they are egotists who cast a big shadow over their workplace. Sometimes they are simply feared, sometimes they are respected for their determination, sometimes they are merely respected for their position, sometimes they are respected for the 'hard decisions' they have taken but rarely are they liked.

Solution is if you want to be liked then join a flat organisation. Join a networked organisation. Join a digital revenue stream. Join a community of workers and consumers who cooperate to form a C21st workplace. Being liked or likeable is YOUR key asset in this new world of business.

Base your business on 'the inclusion principle'.

Provide 'intellectual property' free of charge.

Build digital connectors 'machine to machine'.

Provide 'use value' that is greater than dollar charge.

Ensure fast processing by deploying 'digital compression'.

Automate to facilitate self-service.

Network organisations are pervasive. They are “free for alls”. They are expansive. They are “undisciplined cooperatives” linking people (p2p), groups (g2g), machines (m2m), and systems (s2s). They are entirely new phenomenons based on new technologies. They are quick to form and also quick to fade away, unless and until, they find some “home grown” evangelists.

Evangelists bring a “culture of discipline”. They establish the purpose, values, and mindsets needed to make these networks a social and economic success. The purpose brings focus. The values form communities. The mindsets shape habits.

Evangelists provide the “sentience boundaries” that can help you define your favourite networks. Your experience is personalised. You are part of “an inclusive network” and yet you feel as if it exists for you alone.

The new context for business today is 'facilitated group participation'. This 'loose confederation' between paid and volunteer labor is being forged by 'systems led people' – ie users and staff who are comfortable fitting into a purpose-driven system. These are 'open systems' that link groups to groups (g2g).

It is a new business culture based on shared values and commitments with:

• decentalised control

• parallel processing

• semi-autonomous work groups

• common sentient boundaries around users and staff

• cooperative work practices

• fast learning curve (prototype, simulate, testing regime)

• results and outcome orientation.

These are partnerships built around purpose not profit. All involved seek to enhance the 'use value' of products and services. Community wide participation is being built through open interaction within and between groups. Members of these groups bond around a common purpose.

Want to build one of these g2g networks to extend the 'use value' of your business model?

Well here are four key activities:

• focus on user need

• build purpose-driven group within and beyond your business boundaries

• form these groups into cooperative networks

• use these group partnerships to anchor your revenue models.